The Death Throes of the Republican Party
One can never really predict the future, but yesterday sure felt like one of those turning-point days in American history, one in which a switch is thrown and we all move onto a very different track than the one we had been traveling on.
Over the past month, I had puzzled over the President’s motives in deciding to continue—and to intensify—his attacks on the legitimacy of Biden’s victory. Was he actually hoping that he’d get a January 6 Miracle? That Mike Pence would say “I will not count the certified electoral count from Arizona [and Georgia, and Pennsylvania]” and throw the election into the House? Could be. Or perhaps he was merely positioning himself for a post-presidency role as movement leader, Republican kingpin, or television star? Or perhaps it was just the simple inability of a very, very insecure man to accept the public humiliation of an electoral defeat, with no greater strategic goal in mind?
But whatever his motives were (or are), it seemed pretty clear that one virtually certain outcome of his provocations would be that the Republican Party would be rent in two. Thanks to his pressing the issue, Congressional Republicans would have no place to hide. He would force a totally unnecessary and entirely futile “are-you-with-me-or-are-you-against-me moment” on every one of them. And he would be taking names.
And so it happened—in a manner almost unimaginable a few days ago*—and the Republican Party has indeed been rent in two. It looks to me, though, like the President may have miscalculated a bit, and that, h
Article from Latest – Reason.com
